Many new vehicles have upright side surfaces that are highly curved, giving the vehicles almost an egg-shaped appearance when viewed from the front or the rear. This particular contour has presented a challenge to existing car wash side brushing apparatus, which often is incapable of making efficient contact with the upper and lower portions of the vehicle sides.
Heretofore, a number of prior art devices and constructions have been employed for cleaning the upright surfaces of curved, indented or otherwise inwardly sloping side surfaces of vehicles. One such device is disclosed in Hanna, U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,041. In such a device an upper washer rotatable about a first upright axis is disposed above and coupled to a lower washer rotatable about a second upright axis so as to permit limited lateral shifting of the first and second axes relative to one another. This lateral shifting capability allows either washer to move independently a limited amount toward or away from a vehicle more closely to follow the surfaces of the vehicle to clean those surfaces. The more highly curved side surfaces of present day vehicles, however, have severely diminished the capacity of the '041 apparatus to achieve satisfactory cleaning in high volume car washing installations.
Another apparatus designed to wash portions of the sides of a vehicle while simultaneously washing the lower side portions, commonly known as "rocker panels," is disclosed in Vani et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,090,981. This apparatus, however, employing longitudinally separately mounted vertical and angularly disposed brushes, perforce requires a longer car wash bay to service the vehicles. Another apparatus which sought to address the problem of the highly curved side surface vehicle is disclosed in Nicely et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,267. This apparatus employs separately mounted, independently pivotal and individually powered brushes in a highly complex assembly. The brushes, however, are not individually angularly adjustable about the longitudinal axes of their supporting brackets as might be required by evolving auto body designs.
Seamster, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,688, discloses apparatus comprising independently driven upper and lower side brushes rotatable on a single brush axle. The axle is supported by horizontal arms which are themselves mounted to the top and bottom ends of a support tube. The tube is canted towards the interior of the wash bay at its upper end. Such apparatus, of course, is ineffective as respects vehicles having highly curved side surfaces.
Oldham, U.S. Pat. No. 3,593,357, discloses another vehicle side washing apparatus including separately driven window and side brushes mounted on a common frame. The assembly includes a side brush rotatable by one hydraulic motor on a first vertical axis and a second window brush rotatable on a second axis inclined from the vertical toward a passing vehicle and controlled by a second motor. Because the axes are fixed relative to each other, engagement between the washer elements and severely curved surfaces of vehicles can be inhibited.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved vehicle side washing apparatus particularly designed for washing the generally upright surfaces of vehicles which have highly curved side surfaces.